Knitting, Sculpting, and Living on the Big Island

WeeOnes

December 2008

December 13, 2008

Busy is an understatement for how I've been lately. It's like I've sprouted pointy ears and am working as a WeeOnes elf in preparation for the festive season. It makes me happy to see all the little boxes of stitch markers and knitting needles to be hidden in stockings until Christmas morning.

Despite all the sculpting, I've made time to get in a little knitting. The baby dress (for the baby that was born last month ...) is nearly finished. There's just a pesky crochet border to attach before it's sent to Georgia. In the meantime, I have a sweater that has been awaiting its photo session for a very long time.

I loved this sweater the first time I laid eyes on the Debbie Bliss Wish You Were Here Collection. Main Street Yarns & Fibers in Watkinsville, Georgia asked me to make a sample for the shop, so I made this sweater using a teal shade of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino. The sample would have to remain in the shop for three months (when I would occasionally stop by just to pet it), but then it would be all mine.

My vision for the sweater involved a two-way zipper so the bottom could be opened a tiny bit. I searched forever for a zipper that was the correct length, color, and type that I wanted, but I couldn't find one that worked. Eventually, I came across the zipper attached to the sweater in these
pictures. It wasn't the ideal length, but it was the perfect color, so good enough. Because this was the first time I made something that required installing a zipper, I struggled with it for a while. It went in part way, then got ripped out, then back in, and ripped out again until I was satisfied. When the project was complete, I admired my work and decided to give it a test run. I looked at the bottom of the zipper and realized with dismay that it wasn't a two-way zipper after all. I was irritated, but decided it wasn't the end of the world and began to unzip the sweater. When I got to the end, I discovered with horror that not only was it not a two-way zipper, but it was not a separating zipper either. My cardigan was in fact a pullover.

So in the end, things turned out different from my plan. I still have a wonderfully warm and soft sweater that fits me perfectly, and The Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino shows the cables crisply. The only drawback is that it has a tendency to pill. If I make this again, I would make it about an inch longer and, ahem, pay better attention to the zipper.